Semiconductor device simulation

1. A method for execution in at least one processor of at least one computer, the method for simulating semiconductor devices, the method comprising: (a) running ensemble Monte Carlo simulations of a plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in a Design of Experiment space to produce ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (b) extracting mobility parameters across the Design of Experiment space from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (c) constructing a response-surface mobility model using the mobility parameters extracted from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; and (d) using the response-surface mobility model, running a drift-diffusion simulation of a semiconductor device with a configuration different from, and not included in the first plurality of configurations of the plurality of semiconductor devices in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Design of Experiment space has factors of one or more semiconductor device design parameters.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ensemble Monte Carlo results comprise current-voltage characteristics for subsequent mobility parameter extraction.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein extracting mobility parameters comprises extracting mobility parameters from the current-voltage characteristics in the ensemble Monte Carlo results.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response-surface mobility model is selected to capture semiconductor device behavior obtained from the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein constructing a response-surface mobility model comprises using least square fitting of a response-surface function.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein running the drift-diffusion simulation of the semiconductor device with the configuration different from, and not included in the plurality of configurations of the plurality of semiconductor devices in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations, further includes running the drift-diffusion simulation with an intermediate configuration in the Design of Experiment space, the intermediate configuration not included in the first plurality of configurations of the plurality of semiconductor devices in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein for each drift-diffusion simulation there is not necessarily a corresponding ensemble Monte Carlo simulation for a device configuration in the Design of Experiment space, thereby enabling at least some of the drift-diffusion simulations to be predictive.

9. A system for simulating semiconductor devices, the system including at least one processor of at least one computer, the processor configured to perform: (a) running ensemble Monte Carlo simulations of a plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in a Design of Experiment space to produce ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (b) extracting mobility parameters across the Design of Experiment space from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (c) constructing a response-surface mobility model using the mobility parameters extracted from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; and (d) using the response-surface mobility model, running a drift-diffusion simulation of a semiconductor device with a configuration different from, and not included in the first plurality of configurations of the plurality of semiconductor devices in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations.

10. The system of claim 9 , the processor further configured to perform: obtaining a set of measured data from a substrate under test, the substrate under test including a physical semiconductor device; and utilizing the set of measured data to calibrate and implement a method for simulating semiconductor devices, wherein the method includes ensemble Monte Carlo and/or drift-diffusion simulations.

11. A method of manufacturing integrated circuits, the method comprising: (a) running ensemble Monte Carlo simulations of a plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in a Design of Experiment space to produce ensemble Monte Carlo results; (b) extracting mobility parameters across the Design of Experiment space from the ensemble Monte Carlo results; (c) constructing a response-surface mobility model using the extracted mobility parameters; (d) using the response-surface mobility model, running a drift-diffusion simulation of a semiconductor device with a different configuration than, and not included in the plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations; wherein for each drift-diffusion simulation there is not necessarily a corresponding ensemble Monte Carlo simulation for a device configuration in the Design of Experiment space; (e) extracting from results of the drift diffusion simulation, semiconductor device model parameters for the semiconductor device having the different configuration than the plurality of semiconductor devices having the first plurality of configurations upon which the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations was conducted; (f) using the semiconductor device model parameters extracted to generate a circuit layout; and (g) using the circuit layout to pattern a semiconductor substrate to produce an integrated circuit.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program code, the program code adapted to configure at least one processor of at least one computer to execute: (a) running ensemble Monte Carlo simulations of a plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in a Design of Experiment space to produce ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (b) extracting mobility parameters across the Design of Experiment space from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; (c) constructing a response-surface mobility model using the mobility parameters extracted from the ensemble Monte Carlo results for the first plurality of configurations; and (d) using the response-surface mobility model, running a drift-diffusion simulation of a semiconductor device with a configuration different from, and not included in the first plurality of configurations of the plurality of semiconductor devices in the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable medium is selected from the group consisting of a compact disk (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), a flash memory storage device, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), and a read only memory (ROM).